Ministry of Justice and Security

The Attorney General of the Supreme Council wants to change the way DNA samples are taken from convicts. Currently the judiciary takes a DNA sample from everyone sentenced to four years or more in prison. According to the Attorney General, this puts privacy at stake. He suggests only taking DNA material from people convicted of serious violent or sexual offenses, NOS reports.

There are "indications" that former Minister Ivo Opstelten of Justice and Security urged the Public Prosecution Service in 2014 to prosecute PVV leader Geert Wilders for hate speech over statements he made about Moroccans, Wilders' lawyer Geert-Jan Knoops said. He asked the court for "further investigation" into the question of whether the Minister influenced this case, Knoops said to RTL Nieuws.

The Public Prosecutor 15 times used coercive measures against journalists over the past three years. These measures include eavesdropping on calls, retrieving phone data and requisition of journalistic materials, NRC reports based on information received through the Open Government Act.

In September Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security said in a letter to parliament that he knows about three incidents in which coercive measures were used against journalists, adding that the Public Prosecutor had "no other ongoing investigations".

Since the beginning of 2017 there's been 16 incidents involving a hand grenade at a Dutch business, and in ten of these incidents the hand grenade exploded, Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security said in response to parliamentary questions, RTL Nieuws reports.

D66 parliamentarian Maarten Groothuizen wanted to know how many times criminals used hand grenades to threaten or pressure business owners in the Netherlands. He also asked how often a municipality closed a business after such an incident.

A legislative proposal to ban perpetrators of animal cruelty from owning pets for up to 10 years was submitted by Ministers Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security and Carola Schouten of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. They hope that this bill will prevent animal cruelty and repetition in perpetrators, ANP reports.

Amsterdam finds the national experiment with regulated cannabis cultivation unfeasible and "risky to public order". The municipality would like to participate in the experiment, but only with other rules, mayor Femke Halsema said in a letter to Ministers Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security and Bruno Bruins for Medical Care and Sports, NOS reports.

Seven men arrested on Thursday were "already a long way" into their plans to commit a terrorist attack in the Netherlands, according to Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security. "It is very intense that there are people walking around who have this planned for us", he said to RTL Nieuws.

"This is intense, but also good news", Grapperhaus said. "The police and the Public Prosecutor followed the men very closely. They were looking for AK47s and bomb belts, really terribly dangerous stuff."

The Dutch government wants to register the race, ethnicity, political views, and religion or philosophical conviction of anyone who applies for or renews a firearm license. These new requirements for firearm licenses are written in a legislative proposal that will be submitted to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of Dutch parliament, next month, the Volkskrant reports.

The police unions, the Ministry of Justice and Security and the National Police Chief reached a new collective bargaining agreement for the police on Friday. All labor actions by the police are scrapped, sources said to NOS.

It is "precisely the intention" that not many child asylum seekers qualify for the children's pardon, State Secretary Mark Harbers of Justice and Security said in a debate about Lili and Howick on Wednesday. The two Armenian kids were set to be deported on Saturday, after living in the Netherlands for 10 years, but got an exemption at the last minute, AD reports.

The government is pushing extra money into the police and fighting cybercrime next year. A once off amount of 30 million euros will go to fighting cybercrime, and the police will get an extra 58 million euros, sources in The Hague told newspaper AD.

The extra 58 million euros for the police comes on top of the approximately 260 million euros already being invested.

The Amsterdam city council wants asylum children who've been living in the Netherlands for more than five years, to be able to stay in the country because this is now their home. The council called on Mayor Femke Halsema to ask State Secretary Mark Harbers of Justice and Security to implement a so-called children's pardon, Het Parool report.

Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security is turning to court to try and stop planned labor actions by the police. The police unions called on officers to only respond to emergencies this weekend, and not perform any of their other duties. According to the Minister, this will jeopardize safety, NU.nl reports.

The government of Curacao is denying fleeing Venezuelans their international right to asylum, according to a report Amnesty International published on Monday. The human rights organization calls on the Netherlands to intervene, ANP reports.

State Secretary Mark Harbers of Justice and Security received such serious threats regarding the deportation of two Armenian children, that he had to go into hiding last week, sources in The Hague told the Telegraaf.

The Dutch police unions are calling on their members to only respond to emergency reports in the weekend of September 14th to 16th, and to perform no other of their duties. This forms part of long ongoing labor actions for a better collective bargaining agreement for the police, NOS reports.

This is the most severe labor action ever taken by the police, a spokesperson for the unions said to NOS. "But we have to take this step. If noting changes now, we will soon not be able to be there when citizens need us." The action will have major consequences, according to the unions.

The police found dozens of stowaways on the industrial estate in Moerdijk this week. A total of 32 were found on Wednesday, and another seven on Tuesday. Undocumented migrants are often found in Moerdijk, trying to get to England via the seaport in the Noord-Brabant town, NOS reports.

"We have a free democracy, this video is revolting", Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security said to NOS about a man threatening to kill PVV leader Geert Wilders in a video on Facebook. The 26-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday.

Around a fifth of the Syrian asylum seekers who are proposed for asylum in the Netherlands through the so-called Turkey-deal, are rejected because of extremist sympathies or because their ideals are not in line with Dutch values, Paul van Musscher, national portfolio holder for foreign affairs and migration crime at the police, said to the Volkskrant.

A video Minister Sander Dekker for Legal Protection posted on Twitter after a working visit to insurer Achmea caused some angry reactions, especially from lawyers. They called it an "promotional video", "shameless", and "unworthy of a Minister", RTL Nieuws reports.

Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security thinks there should be a discussion on making it mandatory to participate in DNA kinship investigations, he said on Wednesday afternoon after it was revealed that such an investigation led to the identification of a suspect 20 years after the murder of Nicky Verstappen.

Dozens of convicted criminals are still receiving benefits, despite having an outstanding prison sentence against their names, RTL Nieuws reports based on its own research. The police and judiciary can't find them to arrest them, but social services and benefits agency UWV know how to find them to pay their benefits, the broadcaster writes.

The Public Prosecution Service launched a criminal investigation into sexual abuse in the faith community of Jehovah's Witnesses, Minister Sander Dekker for Legal Protection said in a letter to parliament. Five people from different regions in the Netherlands filed declarations of sexual abuse, he said, ANP reports.

"At the Public Prosecutor, the declarations were carefully dealt with by specialist sex crime officers in the regions", the Minister said. He previously called on victims to file declarations so that a criminal investigation can be launched.

The police unions are willing to restart collective bargaining agreement talks with Minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus of Justice and Security. But to keep the pressure on the Minister, police officers will start a series of protest actions, the unions announced on Tuesday after talking with their members, RTL Nieuws reports.